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perennial

pe·ren·nial

UK/pəˈɹɛn.ɪ.əl/ US/pəˈɹɛn.j(ə)l/ rare rare
adjective (3) noun (1)

adjective

1.

lasting three seasons or more

  • “the common buttercup is a popular perennial plant”
Antonyms
2.

lasting an indefinitely long time; suggesting self-renewal

  • “perennial happiness”
Similar
3.

recurring again and again

  • “perennial efforts to stipulate the requirements”
Synonyms
Similar

noun

1.

a plant lasting for three seasons or more

Origin

The adjective is borrowed from Latin perennis (“lasting through the whole year or for several years, perennial; continual, everlasting, perpetual”) + English -al (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Perennis is derived from per- (“completive or intensifying prefix with the sense of doing something all the way through or entirely”) + annus (“year; season, time”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂et- (“to go”)). By surface analysis, per- + -ennial. The noun is derived from the adjective. Cognates * Middle French pérenne (modern French pérenne (“lasting through the whole year, perennial”)) * Italian perenne (“lasting for a long time”) * Spanish perenne (“eternal; permanent; a perennial plant”)

Phrases

  • hardy perennial
  • perennial philosophy

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.